Description

Johnny Otto is self-taught contemporary artist based in Los Angeles. He was born in Bay Village, Ohio in 1966, the grandson of Czech and German immigrants. Otto is also an award-winning Filmmaker, Social Activist & the Founder of Ottophobia. His work is greatly influenced by the Neo-Expressionist (The Wild Ones) artists of the 70's and 80's and by the Masks created by the Fang People. His work has been compared to Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo, Picasso, Keith Haring, and many other influential artists of the last century. In 1971 his father moved the family to Canada, presumably because of the Vietnam War. His father was a Doctor who dedicated his life to helping the less-fortunate in the inner city of Detroit. This greatly influenced Johnny and since then he has pledged to help those in need. He began his art career in his hometown of Windsor, Ontario in 1983. He was also a Radio DJ at the influential college station CJAM-FM from 1987-1990. In the Summer of 1990, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his filmmaking and artistic dreams. In 1991 he created his first and only still life, a painting of flowers in a vase, reminiscent of Van Gogh's 'Flowers in a Blue Vase'. When his father, who had been a major influence in his art, died in 1991, he instructed his mother to place in his father's coffin.